AI

Artificial intelligence, some spin it as the future boon of all mankind, others label it as the coming doom of all man kind. Imagine the good that an intelligence created by man could be. No more driving yourself, let your car do that. Your computers would be interactive, art creation could be automated, manual labor could be done by machines, international politics could be handled by humanoid ambassadors, warfare and sports could be taken over by robots. Virtually all levels of our current society would be affected. However, we as humans fear what we do not know, or understand. If we give control of our lives to an intelligence that is not our own, and potentially smarter (though can the creation grow beyond the capacity of the creator?) isn’t there a possibility, even the most remote one, of the machines realizing that we humans are the blight of this planet? I don’t want to go off on a Sci-Fi tangent, but with great power comes great responsibility, and if… when AI comes into play as a fully adaptable, and learning computer (or being?), much can and will be relegated to the computers. Let’s just hope they don’t read any Isaac Asimov (I, Robot author).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence gives the definition of the field of AI, the history and the challenges, and the successes (Deep Blue for instance).

TED Talks: Thomas Barnett

Thomas Barnett’s ideas on the military are accurate (and they should be, it’s his job). His statements about our levitation force are on the money, as is the thinking that we lack the follow through force with the training, and expertise to rebuild countries. Dividing the military into two roles: butt whipping and reconstruction sounds good. This will allow soldiers to be soldiers and will not force them to multitask two very different roles. Likewise the reconstruction side will not be forced to break down doors and shoot the bad guys. As for improvements, I can honestly say that my knowledge is completely outclassed in this instance, and I trust his judgment.

TED Talks: Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall is a scientist noted for her study of the great apes, and has been researching this for over 40 years. In her TED talk she speaks about the destruction of habitat, culture and environment. Her first reference to the interconnectivity of these problems involves large international logging corporations that build roads through forests inhabited by natives. These natives then use the road to go from hunter gatherers who only took what they needed, to poachers and vendors of meat. They now kill everything that moves, destroying the food chain and screwing themselves in the long run. They take the meat they get from the clear cutting style of hunting they employ and use the logging trucks to sell it for money in the towns. All the wile the loggers deforest the area, further reducing the productivity of the natives hunting grounds. The loggers move on, leaving the road, and waste behind it, and the navies are left with drastically reduced forestland, and food. She also throws her ape research into her speech, talking about how they have emotions, and intelligence, and that the destruction of the forests also harms our closest cousins, who are also deserving of consideration and empathy.

TED Talks: Al Gore

Al Gore, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, former vice president, prominent environmental activist, and TED talker. Gore’s TED talk involves what we as American citizens can do to reverse global warming, or as he calls it “Climate Crisis” . His opening speech is amusing, his information is well graphed, his message well received and his meaning sincere. I enjoyed listening to all that he said, with the exception of one slide. Reduce emissions from your home energy use (better design, insulation, green electricity)

According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research Al Gore consumed 22,619 killowat hours in the month of August 2006. This is more than twice what the average American family uses per year. Personal hipocracies asside, Gores’ message is still an imporant one, considering that the vast majority of Virginia will be underwater before to long if the crisis is not averted.

RSS

Traditionally I have had problems remembering to check current events for my Political science class. The teachers’ goal is to have his students be up to date with the happenings in the world. However my busy schedule (who am I kidding, playing video games) doesn’t allocate much time for watching the news. This RSS website I subscribed to: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/mostviewed allows me to skim through the superfluous stuff (like anything with the words OJ or Anna Nicole) to get to potential current event topics.

Ted Talk: William Kamkwamba

An interesting and inspiring story of William Kamkwamba, a man who studied at the library at age 15, came home to his relatively remote dwelling, and built a windmill that generates electricity. As he modestly puts it, he didn’t follow the book by the letter, but used it more as background reading to get a better understanding of the materials used. Then he used some wood and scrap materials to make the windmill. The voltage output is about 12 volts, and that is enough to power four lights and two radios for his home. He desires to go on to create more windmills, for his village. The plan for the next one is for it to be double the voltage, for use with irrigation and water pumping.

Social Networking

Social networking has bloomed over the past few years, with the front runners being Facebook and Myspace. Myspace is the one I am most familiar with, and there are distinct pros and cons to it, and social networking as a whole.

The obvious pros are that you can connect with a vast variety of folks, from different walks of life, in different places, and who enjoy various activities. Myspace is an excellent place to pick up chicks, or communicate with them, particularly if you get stressed out around the opposite sex or find yourself fumbling telephone conversations. Myspace lets you connect and find other people who have similar interests, through the uses of clubs or groups. It also allows for folks to show pictures of themselves, and put a little chunk of who they are (whether accurate or not) to show anyone who comes looking. Myspace also is a new youtube, with lots of amusing, and annoying videos added daily (for annoying see that Crocker idiot). Myspace allows people to advertise businesses, music, themselves (as in the case of politicians).

However there is a darker side, one of annoyance and immaturity. This is the seething underbelly of filth, and that is “Myspace whores”. This term is not to imply physical looseness, merely an over usage and reliance on Myspace. The usually victims of Myspace whoreism are women from the age of 13 to 36, though many men are affected as well. What happens when someone becomes a Myspace whore is this: they begin posting bulletins (messages that are visible to everyone on your friends list). There is absolutely nothing wrong with posting bulletins, in moderation. But the Myspace whores slowly but surely begins to increase the bulletin number per day, to insane proportions. Soon things like “im going to bed txt me plz” or “got back from school” or “IM DELTETING YOU IF YOU DON’T COMMENT ME” start filling up. I literally counted 11 of these bulletins in a two hour time span, from one person. The underlying mental philosophy is that all of the people in your friends list actually care about your daily “goings on”. This self centered behavior is almost always incorrect, unless the friends list consists exclusively of the individuals’ mother, and in most instances Myspace whores can just open the door and let mom know what they are doing. Further signs of Myspace whoreism are posting lots of surveys (one or two a day is plenty), having a ton of pictures at weird angles, (such as a camera below the sink) negative emotional messages about how their life is terrible, and chain mail.

However, if you don’t mind a few cluttered bulletins, and advertisements saying, and I quote “Find Ur Crush!” (I shudder every time I read that), social networking is worth the time and effort.